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Amy's Baking Company
Amy's Baking Company was owned by husband and wife Samy and Amy Bouzaglo. One of the most notorious episodes in Kitchen Nightmares history, Samy and Amy were unable to handle criticism and would constantly get into shouting matches with customers who complained over the food but were forced out the restaurant. Gordon deems the restaurant a lost cause due to all the conflicts within it and his belief Samy and Amy won't stick to any changes he makes, so for the first time in the series, he walks away from a restaurant without helping it thrive. Food ordered * Fig Pear Prosciutto Pizza (raw, soggy, and wet dough) * Blue Ribbon Burger (soggy bun with a burger patty full of grease) * Red Pepper Ravioli (sweet and spicy) * Salmon Burger (overcooked and dried as Gordon describes it as "dried cat food") Problems * Both Amy and Samy had an aggressive attitude towards the customers' response to the waiting times and criticism which led to the chaos in the restaurant. * Amy fires Katy for no reason after Katy asks a question to Amy. * Failure to listen to Gordon's advise and criticism to the point where Gordon Ramsay quits. This marks the only time in Kitchen Nightmares where Gordon Ramsay fails to help the staff to improve the restaurant. Synopsis The episode starts off with Amy explaining the history of the restaurant: Samy had invested over $1 million to build the restaurant in 2006 in order to fufill Amy's dreams of becoming a chef. About two years prior to the episode's filming, Amy claims that bloggers began writing negative reviews about the restaurant on websites such as Yelp which she claims are "lies" and cost them a "tremendous amount of business". Said reviews noted the restaurant's food and, in particular, the horrific customer service; Amy and Samy routinely argue with diners, dish out threats (on one occasion, Amy deliberately added more spice to a served plate of food in an attempt to hurt a diner) and refuse to take any form of criticism. The day before Ramsay's arrival, the camera crew witnesses diners waiting for long periods of time for their food. This is mainly because Samy is the only one who was allowed to input the orders (as well as pour wine and handle money) resulting in him often inputting orders incorrectly and sometimes omitting them altogether due to the large influx of tickets he receives, and also because Amy chooses to cook one ticket at a time. The diners who do receive their food find out it was definately not worth the wait due to its poor quality and send it back, frustrating Samy and Amy. Tensions reach a breaking point when a diner confronts Samy and claims that he and his friend have been waiting for a pizza for over an hour, causing Samy to scream and curse at the two and demand that they leave, but not before insisting that they pay for the pizza (since it was already in the oven while they were being kicked out) as well as the drinks they received. As Amy threatens to call the police, Samy turns his anger to the diner's friend, and the situation nearly escalates into a fist-fight until one of the cameramen steps in and escorts the diners outside. Amy then berates and insults the other diners in the restaurant before storming back into the kitchen. Upon arriving, Ramsay is impressed with the restaurant's presentation, as well as the kitchen's cleanliness and organization, though he becomes more wary when Amy notes that she closes the restaurant if either she or Samy is not there (because she cannot find any "quality workers") and also when Samy admits that he was not trained in the restaurant business, his original job being a real estate developer. After the initial discussion, Ramsay prepares to sample the food. While talking with server Miranda, the latter reveals that she and the other servers only work on an hourly wage and do not make tips; Samy instead takes them for himself, which is illegal. Samy justifies this by saying that he does most of the front-of-house work (even though he doesn't do it properly) then takes Ramsay's order. Though he was impressed with one of the desserts he tried earlier during the meeting with the couple, he has a rather negative response to the other menu items: the fig and pear prosciutto pizza was very sweet and the dough was raw; the blue ribbon burger was not medium rare as requested, had a combination of condiments that Ramsay found bizarre, and the bun was dripping with grease; the red pepper ravioli exhibited a combination of sweet and spicy flavours that Ramsay found confusing and he learns from Samy that it was made with mass-produced frozen ravioli even though the menu advertises it as being freshly made; and the salmon burger was overcooked and the presentation of it was unappealing. Later during dinner service, Ramsay criticizes Amy and Samy for the food he was served during lunch as well as the fact that they use frozen ravioli instead of making it from scratch, though Amy denies any wrongdoing because Samy doesn't tell her about the problems with the food (as he knows she doesn't take criticism very well). After announcing to the diners that ravioli is off the menu, Amy retaliates by saying that the diners can only have cakes for their meals. Throughout the night, diners are seen complaining about the long waiting times, and those who receive their food send it back. At one point, Amy accidentally gives Miranda the wrong table number, and later accuses server Katy of "having an attitude problem" when she asked Amy "are you sure" while trying to confirm the table number for a plate of food. In the dining room, Ramsay witnesses Samy taking a $10 tip intended for the servers, though Samy again defends this. Ramsay then informs the diner who left the tip about what Samy does, and the diner responds "That's horrible". Samy and Ramsay then get into a heated, profanity-laced arguement during which Samy utters the infamous phrase "I'm the gangster not you". Eventually, Amy closes the restaurant and fires Katy on the spot. Despite Samy attempting to change Amy's mind, Katy announces that she is quitting and leaves the premises in tears, while Amy describes her as a "poisonous little viper". The next day, Ramsay returns to the restaurant, only to find it closed. He takes this opportunity to talk to Henry and Jessica, two former employees who describe the horrible working conditions at the restaurant: Henry claims that Samy made him wash his car on one occasion and Jessica says that at least 50 people were hired and fired over a period of 18 months, the length of time she worked at the restaurant. Ramsay is eventually able to talk to Samy and Amy and tries to get them to understand that what they are doing is wrong, but Amy once again shows that she will not take any form of criticism and responds to Ramsay by loudly arguing with him and becoming increasingly hostile and aggressive. Samy also reveals that they had actually fired over 100 employees during the 18 month period, not 50. Exasperated, Ramsay realizes that they are not open to making any changes to how they run their business and, after giving them a dressing down about how he cannot help owners who won't listen to him, leaves the restaurant. As the camera crew remove their equipment, Ramsay states in a concluding monologue that it's the first time he's met two restaurant owners who he could not help, and cites the fact that they have gone through 100 staff members, infuriated the local community with their behaviour and business practices, and believes that they would not have adhered to any changes implemented to improve the restaurant regardless. Category:Lost cause Category:Revisited Restaurants Category:Arizona Category:Season 6